I think we need to wait. Elmer Keith thought a big slug at 750 FPS worked, and it did. A 9 mm at 1100 FPS seems to work too. Will 1 round at 2000 FPS work.
Time will tell
TED
Time will tell
TED
In that case the tend to fracture halting any further penetration.I am assuming they [lighter grain bullets] also do not fair as well when striking heavy bone and cartilage.
A lighter projectile would yield more velocity and therefore more energy. Assuming you're looking to deliver more and not less energy to the bad guy, lighter is good...to a point. I wouldn't use any of the extreme light loads, just something toward the light side. I think a smaller grain projectile would be more at home in a shorter barrel in the interest of maintaining muzzle energy, however, you may have a pistol with an action that favors something heavier. Please bear in mind I don't know what exact caliber you have in mind with this post.Does massive velocity with less mass do as much damage to tissue as slower heavier projectiles? Is this theory a better choice for short barrel pistols?
How much does barrel length affect terminal ballistics?
A lighter projectile would yield more velocity and therefore more energy. Assuming you're looking to deliver more and not less energy to the bad guy, lighter is good...to a point. I wouldn't use any of the extreme light loads, just something toward the light side. I think a smaller grain projectile would be more at home in a shorter barrel in the interest of maintaining muzzle energy, however, you may have a pistol with an action that favors something heavier. Please bear in mind I don't know what exact caliber you have in mind with this post.
To answer your question about barrel length and ballistics you might want to look at this website: BBTI - Ballistics by the Inch :: Calibers/Cartridges
I believe the article was talking about muzzle velocities out of snub nose revolvers. The .40sw was right there with or better than some .357mag loads out of those really short barrels. I know muzzle velocities aren't the only thing necessary when considering defense rounds but .40sw has the velocity and a decent weight all combined. Certainly better than .38spl in my book..40 s&w sounds like a good choice even though I have no real experience with revolvers. I do have experience with .40 (usually 165 grain for my 4 inch barrel) and I think it's a fine cartridge .357mag would still deliver more energy over .40 s&w - about 20-25% according to ballistics101.com so I'm not sure exactly what your article said - maybe it was about something else besides energy.
Sorry. Didn't mean to confuse. My real debate, with myself, was with the velocities vs. mass. I simply wanted to make sure my choice of revolver would be adequate using the .40sw ammo I already have on hand or with other copper jacketed lead choices. I didn't want to lose so much muzzle velocity that my hollow points wouldn't do their job.Well since neither one of us can speak for an article which is not front of us let's put that aside for now to keep me less confused
Your concern about expansion would be another tick in the direction of a smaller grain bullet. Generally, more velocity helps ensure expansion from what (little) I know.
The copper stuff I have seen locally is more expensive but when bought solely for self defense I wouldn't "not" make the purchase due to cost. You get 20 rounds for about twice the cost of 50 target style rounds.Well, those copper bullets seem to do OK in the gel tests that I've seen. They kill deer like crazy out of my Ithaca deerslayer from my experience.
If you can afford the copper stuff and it hits close enough to POA out of your handgun then I see no problem.
You're saying there's an ammo (with the same grain) that will give you several hundred (at least 300?) fps more out of a 2" barrel? The all copper ones? I could see that out of a longer test barrel maybe but gaining that much out of a 2" barrel seems hard to believe.
That is my plan for now.I would go with something like 165-155 grain HSTs.
Reading the charts and articles selling the newest and hottest ammo would lead many people to this conclusion. But the truth is MSG answered the question in post #3. The formula for energy (e= 0.5 m v(squared) ) tells you the energy of the round at the muzzle. It does not tell you the work done at the target.A lighter projectile would yield more velocity and therefore more energy. Assuming you're looking to deliver more and not less energy to the bad guy, lighter is good...to a point. I wouldn't use any of the extreme light loads, just something toward the light side. I think a smaller grain projectile would be more at home in a shorter barrel in the interest of maintaining muzzle energy, however, you may have a pistol with an action that favors something heavier. Please bear in mind I don't know what exact caliber you have in mind with this post.
To answer your question about barrel length and ballistics you might want to look at this website: BBTI - Ballistics by the Inch :: Calibers/Cartridges
Not necessarily. Given ENOUGH velocity, the lighter bullet will provide more energy at the muzzle. However, just because the velocity is higher does not necessarily mean a greater amount of energy. There will be a point where the amount of energy will be greater for the lighter weight bullet, once it has enough velocity. However, that is still only "at the muzzle". the lighter weight bullet will also shed its velocity, and thus its energy, much faster than the heavier bullet.A lighter projectile would yield more velocity and therefore more energy. [/url]
That's why I said (in the same post you quoted me above I may add) that a light projectile is good to a point and that I don't recommend extreme light loads.Not necessarily. Given ENOUGH velocity, the lighter bullet will provide more energy at the muzzle. However, just because the velocity is higher does not necessarily mean a greater amount of energy. There will be a point where the amount of energy will be greater for the lighter weight bullet, once it has enough velocity. However, that is still only "at the muzzle". the lighter weight bullet will also shed its velocity, and thus its energy, much faster than the heavier bullet.
Basically, you would need to do the math to determine at what distances any given light weight bullet would have more energy than any given heavier bullet (some heavier bullets will still have a greater amount of energy at the muzzle even though they are a slightly lower velocity). Even then, you still need to take into account that that lighter bullet needs to have enough additional energy to overcome the higher rate of energy loss as it impacts and penetrates. A lighter bullet with just a little bit more energy at the time of impact will still do less damage that the heavier bullet because of how much faster it looses that energy upon impact.
Yes, sometimes a lighter bullet is well worth it, but not always, and not just because it has a higher velocity. It comes down to being a trade off that you need to understand before you can make an educated decision.